As per the ruling released on Monday, the Directorate of Education (DoE) of Delhi has asked the government schools to cap the weight of their students’ school bags. Especially in the case of grades 1 and 2, students’ bag should not weigh more than 1.5 kg. They are also restricted to be given any kind of homework.
Similarily DoE has set maximum permissible weights for every grade from 1 to 10. Students from grade 3-5 should not have their school bag heavier than 3 kg. As for students from 6-7 grades, their bag should weigh as high as 4 kg. Students from class 8 and 9 should carry a maximum weight of 4.5 kg while students from grade 10 are permitted to carry not more than 5 kg.
The DoE has mandated the schools to notify the students a day before about the books they need to carry to school the next day. The circular was released last year too, but the details have been changed this year, considering the health hazards of heavy school bags carried by the students.
School bags to have limited textbooks
A limited amount of books and notebooks are to be allowed and asked for by the class teachers. No extra material or books should be carried into the class by the students.
Students in the state have been carrying way more than their capacity. A student from grade 10 is found carrying a bag that weighs almost 10 kgs. Carrying such heavy school bags on the shoulder eventually damages the vertebral column and the knees. Almost 50% of the schools in Delhi are multi-storeyed and this simply increases the awful effect on students.
DoE has asked schools to provide clean drinking water in the school at all times so that they don’t need to carry water bottles to school as an extra burden. Also, the parents and teachers have been asked to cooperate to ensure that students aren’t burdened with their school bags.
